DATE: January 14, 2002

MEMO
TO:
Montana Board of Regents

FROM: Stephen
T. Hulbert

Chancellor

SUBJECT: Campus Report for January 2002 Board
of Regents’ Meeting

·Rural
Education Technology Center – The University of Montana – Western
took substantial completion of the new technology building on December 7,
2001. While the contractor continues to
have punch list items to complete, the building will be available for class and
conference use for the Spring Semester 2002.
Western’s Agriculture Conference and Expo was the kick-off event for
this new state-funded facility. The
installation of $800,000 of federally funded technology and furnishings is
ongoing.

·Agriculture
Conference and Expo – From January 7-9th Western conducted its first
Agriculture Conference and Expo which attracted 150 participants including 30
vendors. The Conference featured
seminars and workshops on varied topics suggested by the agricultural community
including recent tax law, niche marketing, futures and options, rural energy, technology
and change, geo-spatial technologies and the rural landscape, grain industry
and transportation issues and undaunted stewardship among others. Speakers included Chuck Swysgood, David
Gibson, Rick Haines, Marc Mattix and Sharron Quisenberry. Baxter Black, the cowboy humorist and poet,
entertained conference participants and joined in featured workshops.
Discussion is continuing regarding other agricultural related conference and
non-credit related programming. The
2003 Conference and Expo has been scheduled for January 6-8, 2003.

·Land
Acquisition - On January 4th, 2002, The University of Montana
- Western Foundation took possession of the Crosswinds Restaurant and
apartments. This property is in the
University’s acquisition zone and is located adjacent to the campus entrance on
East Poindexter Street. For the
foreseeable future the property will continue to be operated in its current
capacity.

·Faculty
Activities -

A book by Professor Alan Weltzien of
the English Department has been published by the University of Utah Press. “The Literary Art and Activism of Rick Bass
,” is the first attempt to address the works of this Montana author. Weltzien edited the contributions of fifteen
scholars in reviewing the essay collections, non-fiction, short story and
novella collections and one novel by Bass.

Dr. Jim Sethi, Professor of Business, presented a
keynote paper on Strategic, Ethical, and Ergonomic Issues in Information
Technology and E-Commerce Systems at the International Business Economy Conference
2002 in San Francisco, January 3-5, 2002.
The conference was an international gathering of experts in
international management, drawn from more than thirty universities in the
United States and other countries in addition to several sponsoring organizations.